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The proposed Green New Deal, championed by Democrats would bring massive changes to the current economic system. How would it affect healthcare? Learn more here

You may have heard of the “Green New Deal” and it’s strong bi-partisan support. People are generally in favor of ideas that will bring carbon neutrality and contribute less to climate change.

Climate change is no longer a question. It is a real phenomenon, and there is a 95% certainty that it’s the result of human activity. While certain figures will have you think otherwise, NASA states that the evidence for climate change is “unequivocal.”

In response to this reality, we may be seeing new legislation to bring us up to speed and start changing the way we operate. But what exactly is the Green New Deal and how will it affect health care?

The Green New Deal

The Green New Deal, while being relatively new in the mass media, has actually been an idea floating around since the early days of President Obama. The deal suggests an overhaul of economics and policy that would bring the United States into closer accord with nature.

The name echoes back to the early 1930s when FDR implemented a number of efforts to bring the United States back into shape after the Great Depression. The idea is that climate change poses a similar, arguably greater threat than the Great Depression did, and we should respond to the modern issue with similar force.

The Green New Deal is currently a resolution with a lot of support on both sides of the aisle. That means there are no bills or legislation implementing the deal. Additionally, it isn’t just one bill or act that would need to be passed.

The deal is a larger plan that will require various pieces of legislation to come to fruition. In the face of such troubles as doubling of natural wildfires, the exposure of 350 million people to deadly heat, and the incalculable destruction of wildlife and habitat, the deal proposes to do a lot.

It plans to reduce “gas emissions from human sources of 40 to 60 percent from 2010 levels by 2030; [reach] net zero emissions by 2050”.

Health Care Implications

The Green New Deal suggests that it would provide “all people of the United States with high-quality health care” in its efforts. This infers that it would employ a single-payer plan in the process.

A single-payer health care system is one where the government pays for the necessary health care issues in a person’s life. That includes a great number of things and encompasses most treatments apart from non-necessary cosmetic issues.

It’s important to remember that the deal is a large, overarching plan, and different elements will come into play at different times. Additionally, the plan is not in place or passed yet, and if it were, it’s intended to be complete decades down the line.

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